Liberals alternately scared of and mocking teabaggers

AmericaBlog, who I often admire, like other liberal blogs just can’t decide whether to ridicule, ignore, or be scared of teabaggers. So they hyperventilate instead.

This is an actual trailer for a new documentary about the Teabaggers. This isn’t a joke. It’s an actual serious documentary taking the Teabaggers seriously. The trailer is bizarre. These people are insane. And dangerous.

The trailer says teabaggers are, among other things, mobilizing against too much governmental control. Seems to me that AmericaBlog has more than once railed against that too. Maybe there’s common ground here (among the obvious many differences.)

If we want to take back control of the country from the banksters and end their death grip on DC, then we need a broad-based coalition based on common goals across all political lines. By definition, coalitions are groups joined on common interests who are agreeing to not let their differences get in the way of organizing towards their shared goals.

10 thoughts on “Liberals alternately scared of and mocking teabaggers”

When I was in Hartford to interview Dodd at a healthcare reform meeting with small business people, I was talking to one of the Tea Party representatives and he asked me to repeat what I said to him on video. There are some things that are common ground. Many of the problems we both see are very real. The huge difference? Their answers to the problems are the same old free market answers that killed the economy.

Unlike the screaming and name calling, we have had what I would term as productive email exchanges since then. But I doubt there will ever be common ground in the answers.

I agree 100%. I’ve even blogged in the past about the benefits of the left joining forces with the teabaggers. Put aside the actual political difference and reshape the movement into a “take back our country” back movement. Force out the corporate interests and lobbyists running our country by forcing out their enablers – the members of Congress who happily hold out their hands.

This reminds me of an old adage: What’s the difference between a genius and a mentally insane person? One’s been diagnosed.

When you have polar extremes, it’s not uncommon for them to both dislike the same things. The problem as not usually been convincing people that bad things are bad. The problem has historically been getting people to agree on the method of change needed to prevent the bad things. Everyone agrees that someone’s house being on fire is bad. But the house will burn to the ground as people argue if they should use water, foam, or halon to put it out.

The enemy of my enemy is not always my friend. Just because a few people feel the government is corrupt doesn’t mean they think it’s corrupt for the same reason. One thinks it’s corrupt on “moral” grounds because its allowing abortion and gay marriage. One thinks it’s corrupt in fiscal terms because of corporate bankers and lobbyists. One thinks it’s corrupt in legalistic terms because the founding principles have been altered and twisted beyond the scope of it’s initially proposed function. They all think it’s corrupt, but are by no means going to find enough common ground to propose a solution that will make them all happy.

Teabaggers agree that there are problems with the government. But what they perceive to be the cause of those problems are very different than how most of the left see things. And as a result, their solutions are going to be very different. I don’t think anything good will result in trying to mix the two to reach a common goal, because there’s little in common beyond the vague sense that somethings wrong with the status quo.